So as many of you will know already, I managed to injure myself recently whilst training for my triathlon in July and was unable to continue running as I usually would. My right foot was in incredible amounts of pain whenever I tried to jog on it and I had to replace that part of my training regime with something else. Obviously it was natural for me to transition this to doing more of a workout on my bike, however instead I decided to opt for a new one that I could take off-road and push to the limits. I didn’t want to spend an awful lot of money on it and after much deliberation I decided to go for the Roadmaster Granite Peak 26″ mountain bike, it cost less than 100 dollars and so was well within my budget and it seemed to have a pretty high specifications list too. All that was left was to try it out and when it finally arrived I was extremely keen to get it out of the box to see what 100 dollars of bike buys you these days.

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Once I managed to get it onto the road I was instantly surprised with how well it looked, aesthetically it doesn’t look like a cheap bike. Sure, you can certainly notice the difference between the Granite Peak and a two thousand dollar mountain bike, but it’s not all that different. The Roadmaster Granite Peak was designed to be suitable for a large audience, as a result of this it has been provided with an excellent suspension system, a natural transitioning gear shift mechanism and premium quality brakes too. Personally I feel that all of the above should be standard for absolutely any “mountain bike” because they are ultimately what is required for any bike to perform on mountainous terrain. I was extremely impressed with how well the front suspension forks performed on the Granite Peak, it was actually so shocking that I’d put it ahead of some of the bikes costing well over one thousand dollars that I have tested. Similarly, the bike ensures that the rider is always in a great riding posture too, this is hugely important for those of us that have developed issues with our backs or also for those of us who would like to prevent this from happening.

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Performance

Another feature that I felt the Roadmaster Granite Peak excelled in was the SRAM drive shifters it possesses, these works in perfect harmony with the front and rear derailleurs. I was constantly amazed with how well this mountain bike was able to shift between gears in such a smooth transition. All that was required with a simple twist of your hand and it would instantly switch, we never came across a single issue with any of the 18 different gear speeds whilst testing the bike. I was also pleasantly surprised with how well the V-brakes performed on the Granite Peak, never once did I struggle to stop smoothly and effectively – on and off the road too. I did however have to configure them slightly when I first got on, but following this I was shocked at how great they were.

Test Ride

Now, obviously Roadmaster had to cut some corners when it came to designing the Granite Peak if they were to offer it for under one hundred dollars. I think that most of this was achieved by producing the frame out of solid steel, rather than aluminum, carbon fiber or a range of alloys seen in most mountain bikes. The steel frame ensures that the mountain bike is very sturdy, has a good amount of shock resistance but it does ultimately weigh slightly more than your average bike – however this difference is far less than some people would typically believe, it’s not that heavy!

Likewise, a steel frame prevents damage to your bike over the long run as it is far more durable than both aluminum and carbon fiber too. Some of the additional benefits a steel frame possesses is the fact that it resists stress fractures considerably more than any other material used for bike frames, it also is entirely rust resistant and so you can rest assured knowing your bike will look great for years to come. In order to test the overall durability of the Granite Peak, I took it out to the dirt and gravel tracks that are not too far from my home. After three hours of hardcore trialing I can honestly say that there wasn’t a single scratch on the bike – I even dropped it a couple of times too.

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Concluding Remarks

Obviously the biggest selling point of the Roadmaster Granite Peak mountain bike is its price, at just over one hundred dollars you are getting a high quality, entry level mountain bike. Most bikes in the entry level boundary cost upwards of three hundred dollars and they are usually not anywhere near the quality that Roadmaster have delivered with the Granite Peak. All in all you have to say that the specifications of this bike are comparable to one that costs three or four times as much. Yes, there are some limitations, but if you’re purchasing a mountain bike for this price tag then what do you expect. I think that Roadmaster have done an outstanding job of ensuring that their riders are capable of taking the bike absolutely anywhere on or off road and having a good time. While I would certainly recommend your average mountain biking enthusiast (who has owned a mountain bike before) to go elsewhere, I think that it’s fair to say a beginner would be very well placed on this bike. Every little detail has been covered by Roadmaster, they have even ensured that the Granite Peak can be put together in less than ten minutes with only a basic tool kit too. I think that this is the ideal mountain bike for anybody who is relatively new to mountain biking or is only just dipping their toes in the water. The Granite Peak performs as well as much more expensive bikes and it is cheap enough that it wont break your bank by upgrading to a newer bike once you’ve had time to practice.